Is it a good thing Legends is no longer canon?

[Makeshift Python]

I do wonder how Lucas would have originally handled VII and what that would have meant for the “legends”.

[Yukaphile]

He was already planning to discard it. If there's one thing I've learned from Chuck's side series about Lucas, it's that he's very lazy and wants others to do his work for him. So he left the running of Legends and the overall world-building to others. He said it wasn't canon once, but then he also admitted that "I leave that to others to handle." It's the same way he claims he had everything planned for Luke's story since 1977. Which is wrong.

[Makeshift Python]

Doesn’t surprise me, and I can’t blame him.

[Yukaphile]

Then why are you even participating in a Legends discussion if you don't like it?! Obviously you think it's a good thing. Cut and paste. There we go.

No, I disagree with that. He was already planning to throw away 30 years of world-building, and Disney just followed in his footsteps. But it might have been better if Lucas had a bit of control in the guiding vision of the new movies, because the prequels are way better than the sequels. They're just poorly executed, but they have good ideas. The problem with the sequels is the reverse. They have poor ideas, but good execution - at least better than the prequels. But his name had become mud thanks to the prequels, so they just tossed him aside. As he said, he sold his baby to white slavers. Absolutely true. Now without him, the movies are floundering, and I'm thrilled to death, won't lie.

[Makeshift Python]

I don’t dislike them, I just don’t think they ultimately matter. They serve the films, it never goes the other way around. That’s why I don’t expect the Marvel TV shows to ever be referenced in the films. I feel the same about the new EU. It’s just extra stuff I could enjoy but I don’t hold the films up against them.

[Yukaphile]

I think a part of the problem is there was more books and comics than the actual movies, and now it's looking as if those films will surpass them at some point. And people tend to treat books as more intellectually engaging. I also disagree. Your dismissal may be the attitude of those in charge, but I'd argue Legends should have been held to the same standard as the films. They are the same timeline, after all. Every single book, comic, and game is as important as the six movies prior to 2015 - unless you're so willing to dismiss the KOTOR games? I know lots of people were clamoring for Legends movies to be made, but critics insisted "there's so much material, it'd be pointless." Why? You don't have to make it simply for fans, and it never would make money that way, but you can at least start from that basis, and work from there. How disappointed were people that they didn't get a KOTOR movie? Yet it's probably a good idea given the many bad ideas they'd probably bring to the table with it. I don't want a KOTOR movie that's a part of this new shit canon yet indistinguishable from the old. Just more corporatism. Disney is making Star Wars into something like Michael Bay's Transformers. Brainless action mass-marketed for cultural consumption. Mark Hamill even admitted this. And at least Legends exists as good stories, but don't pretend they're lesser than the movies. Only from a corporate viewpoint.

[Yukaphile]

And tbh, I think Mark Hamill would have been happier playing his self from Legends rather than what Disney actually gave him.

[Makeshift Python]

Is he unhappy? I recall him speaking about how he was initially objective of the direction before he actually embracing it, but most fans seem to only focus on his initial objection. Otherwise he trusted in Johnson and gave IMO his best performance as Luke.

[Yukaphile]

That's just spin-doctoring to conceal the truth, which is that yes, he said he was playing a character completely different from Luke and put himself in the headspace that he was playing "Jake Skywalker." He said Jedi don't give up. He didn't "embrace" it either so much as just accepted he was a tool being told how to perform and accepted the instructions as "Yes, sir, Guru, lead the way" or something to that effect.

[Makeshift Python]

Even if that’s the case I think he did a fantastic job in the role and how it was handled felt believable to the character, despite whatever he personally objected to.